Just outside of downtown Durango, Colorado lies the workshop of a mad genius named Ron Andrews. Andrews isn’t a genius in the traditional sense — no Einstein or Edison. No, Andrews’s genius comes in the form of perfecting an oft-overlooked piece of the bicycle: the water bottle cage.

Most water bottle cages are made from stainless steel, or plastic, or even carbon fiber. Until Ron Andrews made it so, water bottle cages were never made from titanium.

Titanium is notoriously difficult to weld and work with. It’s also more expensive than steel. While steel tubing runs roughly $0.70 per foot, Andrews pays anywhere from $1 to $5 per foot. That’s why, although it’s a great material, there aren’t too many quality titanium bike makers in the US — and no titanium bottle cage makers beyond Andrews.

As athletes, and cyclists, we know how important hydration is to our every day lives – it nourishes us, cleanses us, and often even encourages us- that’s why we must ride in solidarity with the Water Protectors in North Dakota. These Mni Wiconi bottles – which means “Water is Life” in Lakota – are a small way for us to help the indigenous people of this land save our environment. All proceeds being donated to the brave men and women who are uniting from all over the world to fight for our clean water at Standing Rock. In reality it is a fight we should all take part in, to save our water from a predictable contamination and esnure our planet survives by ending dependency on insustainable energy sources. Even if we can’t travel to join our brothers and sisters we can still help them through donation and mindfulness.